


Were

by wickedthings



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, F/M, Friendship/Love, Hogwarts, Marauders, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-09 19:21:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15274530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedthings/pseuds/wickedthings
Summary: The moon has both cursed and blessed them.One craves more while the other demands less.Trials and tribulations develop as do they, themselves.All they have is each other, but even then, that can be too much.The tragic story of Remus Lupin and Zoe King.





	1. Begin to Explore

Zoe King wasn't nervous at all the entire train trip to Hogwarts.  
She wasn't nervous at all the entire time all the other first years trusted the enchanted boats to carry them across The Black Lake that homed the notorious Giant Squid.  
She wasn't even nervous as Professor McGonagall started explaining what would happen once they entered The Great Hall.  
What made Zoe King nervous was waiting.  
She hated waiting whilst The Sorting Hat said it’s speech – just as her father had told her it would do – then hated waiting as Professor McGonagall began to give the first years more instructions.  
She had to watch different students be sorted all while waiting for her name to be called. She only knew one other person in her class; Everard Van der Burgh. She only knew Everard because he was a distant relative, but they were still best friends; had been since they were both capable of walking.  
Zoe had watched Everard during the sorting ceremony and wasn’t surprised to see that he wasn't even fazed by the idea of waiting to be sorted, in fact, he was looking completely enthralled by the idea.  
He stood on his tiptoes, apparently eager to hear his name and when Professor McGonagall called him, he pushed through the throng of students before him, almost running up to the stool and stuffed The Sorting Hat onto his head.  
The Sorting Hat clearly didn't need any deliberation time for Everard Van der Burgh's sorting, it was almost immediate the moment the fabric touched his head.  
“ _GRYFFINDOR!_ ” The Sorting Hat bellowed, and the Red and Gold table cheered loudly as Everard followed their noise to join them.  
Zoe stood shaking until it was down to her and three other students.  
Once her name was called, Zoe timidly marched up to the stool and gently placed the hat onto her head, thinking of nothing.  
“Is that a trickle of fear I sense?” The Hat taunted, and Zoe's bones steeled.  
There was only one thing she feared, and it wasn't the hat or the sorting. It was being placed where she didn't belong.  
“No” She grit her teeth.  
The Hat chuckled ever so lightly, “So, it's bravery?”  
Zoe hoped that's what she felt, because her nerves were making her feel ill and she couldn’t tell any of her emotions apart now.  
The Hat hummed to itself as Zoe's eyes flickered over the sea of Green and Silver. A place Zoe knew somebody like herself would either be accepted a little too eagerly or shunned before she had even put on the uniform.  
“ _GRYFFINDOR!_ ” The Sorting Hat suddenly yelled, startling Zoe out of her staring thoughts.  
She stood up and in a dream like daze, followed in Everard's steps towards the Gryffindor table, where she was eagerly welcomed by her friend and her new family.

 

Upon sitting amongst the excited Gryffindor table, Zoe spent most of the evening babbling to Everard. They both ate and laugh until their stomachs ached, but neither first year cared.  
They were sorted together and were glad.  
They were more than thankful for that.  
“You two need to follow that girl up there” A red haired girl nudged Zoe’s arm and pointed towards a much older student. Zoe frowned in confusion, “They’re one of the Gryffindor Prefect’s, they’ll lead you back to the Gryffindor Tower”  
“Oh, thank you” Zoe smiled at the red head and then shoved at Everard’s shoulder, “We need to go with them”  
Everard tried to look over the crowd that was growing and shrugged. “Who?”  
“The Prefect” Zoe almost tripped over her robes as she flung herself from the bench and led Everard towards where she had last seen the Gryffindor Prefect.  
She found the group of First Year Gryffindor’s and fell into line beside Everard, who was looking around wide eyed.  
“That looks like the last of you” The Girl Prefect smiled and then looked to the Boy Prefect, who was scanning the crowd. “Seems to be – let’s go for the tour”  
Zoe and Everard hung to the back of the group and were listening intently as they were led through the school, the Prefects pointing out specific corridors that led to certain classrooms and then they reached the enchanted staircase. Zoe’s father had warned her of these and she was itching to see them in person.  
“You lot should watch out for these stairs for the first couple of weeks – just until you’re positive you know where you’re going”  
“Why’s that?” A short girl at the front of the group asked curiously.  
“The stairs are enchanted,” The Girl Prefect, Donna, smirked. “And they have a mind of their own” Richard, the Boy Prefect finished with a chuckle, “but don’t worry, by the end of the week you won’t even be bothered by them”  
As they all cramped onto the staircase, a few kids gripped the railings tightly, while some stumbled into each other as the stairs began to move.  
“This is wicked” Zoe beamed to Everard as they both peered over the edge of the stairs, staring down the many levels of moving stairs.  
Zoe swore she could see The Hufflepuff’s on a lower level, Everard thinks she was just seeing things.

As they reached the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room, the Prefect’s gave them the password of the week, which was Fovea leonum, The Fat Lady whose portrait concealed the entrance to the common room, smiled charmingly at the young students before opening the door, revealing the common room.  
“Alright, this will be your home for the next seven years” Richard smiled widely. “The common room is a place to hang out, study, do homework, get into trouble…” From the look that Donna sent him, that last answer was not tolerated, “Err, not to cause trouble…”  
“We have enough troublemakers in this house” Donna sighed, “Dorms, your dorms are on the first level up these stairs, boys your rooms are upstairs and down to your left, girls, the same but to your right”  
“Any questions?” Richard looked around at the first years, all who looked ready to drop like flies if they didn’t get into their beds soon. “No? Okay, off to bed, I’m sure you’ll all want to get up early and explore in the morning”  
Zoe and Everard shared silent agreements regarding their plans to do just as Richard had said tomorrow, before they stumbled up the stairs and off to their separate dorm rooms.

 

Zoe lay awake in her warm bed for a while the next morning. She wasn’t sure why she was awake before the sun had broken through the clouds and through the windows, but she was sure it had something to do with being away from home for the first time.  
The other girls in her dorm seemed pleasant, the introductory between the five girls going well last night, but they all seemed to still be asleep, leaving Zoe to the silence and her thoughts.  
“Is anybody else awake?” Zoe jolted at the soft voice creeping through the dormitory. There was a muffled response and somebody else groaned. “Diane, go back to sleep”  
Zoe heard a soft mumble from Diane’s side of the room. “I can’t”  
“I’m awake” Zoe murmured back to Diane, who clearly wasn’t planning on going back to sleep as the others had hoped.  
“When’s breakfast” Diane asked, which made Zoe chuckle. “Did the Prefect’s say last night, I can’t remember”  
“How could you be hungry after that feast last night? I’m stuffed” Zoe opened the curtain from around her bed and looked over to see Diane’s opened as well.  
“I’m just really hungry” Diane shrugged. “Mum usually cooks big meals all the time, so I’m used to the food”  
“I think I’m about to burst at the thought of more food” Zoe told her. “Dad doesn’t do much cooking, usually a Sunday roast and that’s the extent of it”  
“What about your mum?” Diane frowned as she asked that question. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked but Diane had grown up with her mother and father in the home always, and to hear Zoe only mention her father intrigued her.  
“Mum travels for work so she’s not home a lot” Zoe smiled sadly but shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me, she brings me some cool trinkets when she comes home though”  
“Oh…” Diane rubbed at her head, feeling a little embarrassed for her pushed questions, “I’m going to try and find the kitchen. My cousin said it’s hidden behind a painting somewhere”  
“Seriously?” Zoe snickered as Diane got out of bed and began ruffling through her trunk for some clean clothes.  
“Yeah. I’m hungry and I don’t see any food around here,” Zoe rolled her eyes as Diane began to get dressed, “Did you want anything?”  
“I’m fine, go crazy trying to find the kitchens”

 

“What took you so long?” Everard asked impatiently the very second, he saw Zoe strolling down the staircase into the common room.  
“I fell back asleep” Zoe shrugged at him, lazily tugging her cardigan sleeve back up over her shoulder. “Have you had breakfast?”  
“No, that’s why I’m complaining”  
“He hasn’t moved in almost forty-five minutes” The red head girl that told Zoe and Everard to follow the Prefects last night spoke up from a sofa in front of the fire, beside where Everard had been impatiently waiting. “I’m Lily Evans, second year”  
“I’m Zoe King and he’s –”  
“Everard Van der Burgh, I know, we’ve been chatting” Lily smiled softly. “Breakfast only has about half an hour left, you’d better hurry if you want to get something nice”

Zoe and Everard had finished their breakfast in silence, the rest of The Great Hall buzzing with noise as students filled the air with an abundance of stories of their summer adventures.  
“Where do you want to go explore first?” Everard questioned with his mouth half filled with chewed eggs and toast. Zoe screwed her noise up at him and shrugged, glancing around the hall for a moment in thought.  
“We should explore the castle first, so we don’t get lost on our way to class on Monday”  
“Really? That’s what you want to explore first? Not even the Quidditch Pitch?”  
“Here we go” Zoe rolled her eyes at the mention of Quidditch.  
“I hear it’s huge, especially one designed for a school” Everard’s eyes lit up. “And it’s never locked up, you can just go in there whenever you like, and you can watch Quidditch trials and practice and –”  
“Quidditch doesn’t start for like two more months, why get excited now?” Zoe pointed out, which caused Everard to scowl at her as he fell into silence.  
“C’mon, let’s just go explore the castle” Everard rolled his eyes as he realised that Zoe wasn’t going to go to the Quidditch Pitch before investigating the castle first.

 

“I think we took a wrong turn” Everard frowned when he and Zoe left the castle and started to explore the castle grounds.  
“What makes you say that?” Zoe scoffed sarcastically. “Does this look like the Quidditch Pitch to you, Ev?”  
“Yeah, I can just picture it now, sitting in one of these giant trees trying to watch somebody try to catch the golden snitch in this mess!” Everard exclaimed, his hands thrown up in the air dramatically. “Where do you suppose we are?”  
“The Forbidden Forest” A deep voice rumbled from behind the two first years. “An’ ye’ shouldn’ be in ‘ere. It’s Forbidden”  
Zoe and Everard spun around to see Hagrid – the Groundskeeper, who had assisted them across the river yesterday evening.  
“We’re sorry, Mr. Hagrid” Everard stammered, his eyes wide and scared. “We were trying to find the –”  
“Quidditch Pitch is that way” Hagrid looked like he was trying not to laugh at Everard’s nervous state. “Follow me, I’ll take ye there”  
Zoe and Everard followed Hagrid quietly, giving each other playful grins.  
“Here we are” The had reached the Quidditch Pitch and Hagrid stared them down with an authoritative look. “Next time ye’ think about runnin’ ‘round The Forbidden Forest, don’t.”  
“Yes, Hagrid. We’ll make sure to remember that” Zoe smiled widely at the groundskeeper, who gave her a wary look, not believing her innocent look.  
Hagrid had seen looks like that from far too many students to believe them. He was about to make a comment on it but chose to shut his mouth.  
It was probably better to let the first years make their own mistakes and cause their own trouble while they were still learning.


	2. Discovering

It had hardly been two weeks of settling into the routine of her timetable, but Zoe had managed to finally get to her first period class on time for once. She was feeling rather proud of herself and what made her feel just a little smug about it was that she had somehow beaten Everard to the classroom, which seemed impossible because he was the first to class every time.   
“Miss. King” Zoe’s heart jolted as Professor McGonagall approached her outside the classroom and gestured for her to leave the crowd surrounding the door, “Come with me, please”  
“Have I done something, Professor?” Zoe’s mind was swirling. She immediately thought of what could go wrong and the worst sunk in. Somebody had found out about her secret and she was being expelled.   
“Not yet, I hope” McGonagall gave her a small grin before continuing. “The Headmaster wishes to have a word with you”   
“Dumbledore?” Zoe’s eyes widened in panic.  
She hadn’t seen him or spoken to him since he visited her family home with her acceptance letter, outlining the conditions that were allowing her to attend the school in the first place. If Dumbledore wanted to speak with Zoe, it could only be about her condition, her secret.  
“Yes, Dumbledore. Now, follow me” 

Zoe was bemused and slightly in awe as she was led up to The Headmaster's office by Professor McGonagall. She didn't say anything the entire time McGonagall led her to the office, only giving Zoe a reassuring, thin-lipped smile as she gave the door the password and Zoe was left to enter the Headmaster's office, alone.   
“Miss. King, please, sit” Professor Dumbledore was already at his desk, sitting patiently, as if he had been waiting there for her the entire time.   
Zoe did as he said and stared at him feeling a little nervous. She had met with him at the beginning of summer before term started, he knew of her condition and was only more than willing to accept her at the school – much to Zoe and her parents shock.   
“Did I do something wrong, Professor? Is that why I'm here?” Zoe spoke up as Dumbledore still hadn't said anything either, “Professor McGonagall didn’t say why I was needed here”  
“No, no you have not done anything wrong, but I have come to realise I forgot to mention something to you during my visit” Dumbledore spoke softly, calmly. His calmness was easing Zoe’s nerves tremendously.   
“I should have mentioned this earlier, considering the moons closeness...”   
Zoe swallowed thickly but nodded quickly in understanding. She was scared for her first full moon at Hogwarts, away from home and all alone.   
“The reason I have called you here is that I need to inform you that we currently have one other student enrolled here who also has had the Lycanthropy curse placed upon them” Professor Dumbledore told Zoe with a kind smile. Zoe must have heard wrong.   
Another werewolf?   
Blinking quickly at his words, Zoe then frowned and stared up at The Headmaster with disbelief coating her system.   
“Only one?” Zoe had thought that a school as strange and wonderful as Hogwarts would have had more than just one other student with the same condition as her in all its time of being open.  
Dumbledore smiled at her, nodding. “Yes, only one. They are in the year above you – a very smart and kind student”   
“Can I know who?” She asked rather eagerly.   
Dumbledore smiled softly, looking amused at the First Years enthusiasm, but, he was only able to give her bad news regarding her question. “Unfortunately, that is not my information to hand out, Miss. King”   
Zoe’s shoulders slumped in disappointment, as did her facial features. She knew she was pushing it asking for a name, but she had hoped just the tiniest bit that he would tell her. “Oh, okay. It just would have been nice to know one other person like me”   
“Maybe in due time you will, but for now, it is not to be known”  
Dumbledore then told Zoe to grab a few Lemon Drops on the way out of his office and head back to her classes.   
“In due time, Zoe. Find out for yourself, Zoe. Be on your own, Zoe, it'll be good for you, make you independent… my arse it will” Zoe huffed in annoyance along the corridor, unwrapping one of the lemon drops as she went. She hadn't even made it down the stairs before she bumped into another student.   
He was tall with sandy brown hair and looked like Zoe did, tired and worn out.   
“Sorry” He muttered to her, sounding as apologetic as he looked.   
“Yeah, sorry” Zoe muttered back and popped the lemon drop into her mouth, continuing her way to her next class. 

 

Sitting in her Transfiguration class, Zoe had her mind elsewhere and was not particularly interested in hearing any of Professor McGonagall’s lectures. She had instead distracted herself with munching on the lemon drop that she had subtly opened and tossed into her mouth.   
“Miss. King, please remind your peers regarding the rules on eating in my classroom” Professor McGonagall spoke rather sharply, while peering down at Zoe over the rims of her glasses.  
Glancing up, Zoe suddenly realised that eating the second lemon drop wasn't a good idea. She knew it was wrong, but distracting herself with the lemon drop instead of the lesson was as far better option than thinking heavily about the other student residing within the Hogwarts castle that was the exact same as her.   
Another werewolf.   
“That it's not allowed” Zoe mumbled back shyly, having her fellow Gryffindor's and the Ravenclaw's in the room giggle at her.  
“And you will do best to remember it” Professor McGonagall spoke sternly before going back to her lecture, continuously eying Zoe every couple of minutes, much to Zoe's annoyance.   
As the work was set, Zoe kept her head down and vaguely read the assigned pages until she felt an elbow meet her ribs and she hissed angrily at her friend beside her.   
“What, Everard?” Zoe asked, speaking as quietly as she could manage under her breath. Everard rolled his big hazel eyes at her and shook his shaggy hair with a grin on his face. He was looking sweetly at her just to get an answer out of her. Zoe waited for the question she knew he was biting at the bit to ask.   
“What did Dumbledore want?” Everard asked eagerly, wanting to hear more about why his best friend had been summoned to the Headmaster's office barely two weeks into their first term.   
Zoe opened her mouth to say something, anything, to him to stop him from pestering her about the meeting with Dumbledore, but shut her mouth quickly as she glanced around the classroom for any eavesdroppers.   
“I'll tell you later” Zoe huffed the second she caught McGonagall's eye – which was still focused on her – and zipped her lips.   
This silence gave Zoe plenty of time to think of a believable lie to tell Everard. Zoe had spent the rest of her day, including lunch and dinner, avoiding Everard. 

 

She still hadn’t found a good enough excuse to tell him about why she really went to see Dumbledore that morning. Sitting down in the common room before the fire, Zoe found herself staring deeply into it and racked her brains for a good enough excuse. Should she use the story that her mother had returned home from a job? Or that her Grandmother was ill?   
“Hard day?” Zoe looked up at the face of the voice speaking to her, only to see the same boy she had bumped into on the way back from Dumbledore's office sitting down beside her.   
“Stupidly hard” Zoe said back, feeling drawn of her energy. Thinking of believable lies was actually exhausting. They sat in silence for a moment before he spoke again, sounding a little uncomfortable with his words.   
“Want a bit of chocolate? It always makes me feel a bit better after a hard day” Cracking a small grin, Zoe nodded shyly.   
“My mum says that too” Zoe giggled as the boy beamed back at her. He stood up tall and was about to move away from the sofa before he turned with a timid grin on his face and looked at her.   
“I’ve got some in my room, I'll go grab some, just… wait here…” He darted up the stairs and was back in seconds. Quicker than Zoe could have imagined. She didn’t even have enough time to think anything of his behaviour, she just smiled at him politely and watched as he snapped off a bit of chocolate from the block and handed it over to her.   
“I'm Remus Lupin” He introduced himself after giving Zoe the chocolate.   
“Zoe King” She nodded at him as she tried to swallow the piece of chocolate and speak all at the same time. She let out a thick cough as she swallowed, frowning at the uncomfortable feeling. “First year, right” Remus asked, watching her a little curiously.   
“Yep” Zoe huffed loudly. “What are you? Fourth year?”  
“No, only second year” He chuckled lightly, then his face dropped as he turned to her and Zoe saw the worry all over his face. “Do I honestly look that old”   
Zoe was stumped and then shrugged. She didn’t really know what made somebody look old or not, so she just went with the first thing she could notice about him. “Well, you're tall…”   
Remus nodded in understanding, laughing under his breath. “I've always been tall for my age, or so my mum says”   
“Lucky, I've always been average” Zoe mumbled, considering her own height. She had taken after her father height wise, average, and she didn’t look like she were about to have a growth spurt anytime soon. Sometimes she wished she took after her mother in that genetic draw.

“There's nothing wrong with being average, unless you're you know, Remus” Two boys with equally messy, dark hair laughed as they suddenly appeared and joined them. One propped himself in the middle of Remus and Zoe, shoving himself into the cushions to get comfortable, while the one with glasses sat on the armrest beside Remus.   
From the look Remus had on his face, Zoe could only assume they were his friends   
“James Potter” The boy with glasses stuck his hand out to Zoe and smiled charmingly.   
“Zoe King” She shook his hand and smiled back feeling a little overwhelmed now.   
“Sirius Black” The boy beside her butt in loudly and all while chewing obnoxiously loud on a large piece of chocolate he had snatched from Remus’ hand. “Nice 'o mee' 'ooo!”   
“Uh... hi?” Zoe said uncertainly, giving Remus a confused look.   
“Sorry about him, he has no manners sometimes” Remus scowled at the messy boy lounging between them. “Acts more animal than human most days”  
“You're one to talk” James snickered to Remus, who flushed a pale pink then went paper white in seconds when he glanced towards Zoe.   
“Where’s Peter?”; Remus asked in a strained voice, clearly trying to change the subject.  
“Off with Frank, trying to find the kitchen again” James told Remus while watching the room rather purposely, as if he were waiting for somebody to arrive soon.   
“Again?” Remus groaned, “Why can’t they just admit they’ll never find it”  
“My dorm mate, Diane already found it” Zoe spoke up, catching the attention on all three boys instantly, “She found it on our first day here”  
“Where is it?” Sirius sat up, blocking Remus’ face.   
“Behind some portrait of a fruit bowl near the Hufflepuff Common Room” Sirius and James were immediately off their backsides and fumbling to get out of the common room, “Where are they going?” Zoe turned to Remus with concern.  
“To the kitchens”  
“I never told them how to get in there…” Zoe mumbled in confusion.   
“They’ll figure it out” Remus groaned a moment after Sirius and James left the common room, standing up, he started to head towards the door before glancing back. “It was nice to meet you, Zoe, but I have to go make sure those idiots don’t do something stupid”  
Zoe laughed and nodded before taking in the empty common room, no other first year student was in sight, which meant they were probably all still at dinner or in the library.  
Now she had plenty of time to come up with a more elaborate lie to tell Everard.


	3. Flight

It had only been a couple of days since Zoe and Remus had become acquainted with one another, but their acquaintance seemed to have spread like wildfire throughout the Gryffindor common room. 

Zoe couldn’t go anywhere in the tower without being questioned about it, and it seemed that Lily Evans had heard of the news as she had sandwiched Zoe against the armrest of the sofa in front of the fire.

“Zoe, is it true that Remus Lupin was talking to you? He was actually talking to you?” Zoe nodded at Lily slightly concerned where this conversation was headed. Lily stopped looking wild for a moment and put a hand over Zoe’s comfortingly, “It’s not a bad thing, Zoe, it’s just that Remus, well, he hardly talks to anyone... well, he does and he’s very nice when he does, but he just doesn’t go out of his way to talk to people unless it’s his dormmates…” Lily rambled rather frantically to Zoe before spinning around to shout out to Marlene, who was at a table lazily completing homework. “Marlene, did you hear this?”

Marlene spun around in her seat to look over at her friends, a blank look to her eyes as she put her quill down and intended to immerse herself in their conversation rather than completing her homework. “Hear what?”

Zoe looked at Lily and lazily nodded, giving Lily permission to tell Marlene what had been happening between Zoe and Remus.

“Zoe is on speaking terms with Remus!” Lily exclaimed excitedly, a weird hush fell around the three girls before Marlene responded.

“Lupin?” Marlene looked over to Zoe and frowned. “How'd you do it?”

Zoe was taken aback but shrugged, she had to avoid the true reason for the conversation, like she had done with Everard. She told them the basis of the truth… just not the whole truth. “Uh... he came up to me... offered me chocolate because he wanted to cheer me up”

“Oh” Both Second Year girls frowned in thought.

“This is odd” Marlene confirmed for them all. 

“Well… if that’s all you wanted to say…” Zoe excused herself from their company and made her way upstairs, for a bit of peace and quiet.

 

Sitting in Everard’s dorm room, Zoe fiddled with the curtains around his bed and flopped back against the mattress, heaving out a giant sigh of boredom.

“How did you get in here?” Everard asked Zoe without skipping a beat as he entered the room.

“Same as you, I walked the stairs and opened the door” Zoe spoke dully, thoughts plaguing her mind still.

“So why are you up here? Thought you said you were hanging out with Lily and Marlene today?” Everard asked, flopping down beside her.

“They’re busy with homework”

“What about your homework?” Zoe zipped her lips, shrugging vaguely. “You have started it, haven’t you?”

“Of course I’ve started, I just haven’t quite got near finishing it yet, alright” Zoe defended herself immediately, although it was a bit far from the truth.   
Zoe had hardly even started any of her assigned homework tasks.

“Do you need help with it?” Everard asked softly, which made Zoe groan.   
She hated when he had to help her with such tasks. It made her feel inadequate and stupid.

“You’ve finished it all, haven’t you?”

“I have some I haven’t done”

Staring at the roof in silence, Zoe nodded and then looked to Everard who was watching her with a patient gaze.  
“Wanna meet me in the library and we’ll finish it before dinner?”

“I’ll meet you down there”  
Zoe smiled sweetly and left Everard as she left the room and trudged up to her own room, only to have it dawn upon her that she had just planned to waste her Sunday afternoon in the library doing homework.

 

Monday morning came around and Zoe was groaning and moaning the entire time she got dressed for the day and continued the groaning and moaning as she slumped down the stairs into the common room where she bumped into Remus.

Lily and Marlene’s conversation from the day before spun through her mind and she narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. 

“Why are you so nice to everyone? to me?” Zoe asked Remus bluntly as a greeting. Remus looked down at her and the confusion was evident on his face.

“Should I not be nice to you?” He asked back slowly, trying to think of something he could have done to have her ask him that question.  
And if he hadn’t done something he was sure one of his own friends had said something to her, which made him grow irksome at the thought.

“I’ve just… I’ve just heard some say you don’t talk to people if they aren’t your friends”

“You are my friend, Zoe”

“Yes but… oh…” Remus chuckled as Zoe closed her mouth quickly. 

“You shouldn’t listen to the rumours” Collecting his bookbag, Remus began heading towards the door when he noticed Zoe wasn’t following. “Well, aren’t you coming too?”  
Zoe nodded and scrambled after him a little skittish. 

“I still can’t believe they gave us double History of Magic class first thing on a Monday morning” James groaned as he joined the group at the Gryffindor table.   
Zoe glanced up from her porridge and shrugged at James, thinking it was better to get it over and done with than have to spend the last period of the day hearing Professor Binns drone on about nonsense.

“I have flying lessons today, I’d take the double instead” Zoe groaned to Remus who sympathetically laughed at her, thinking back to last year when he had to deal with the agonising flying lessons. 

“Don't worry, they're not as bad as they sound” James butt into the conversation.

“Says the Chaser for the Quidditch team” Zoe retorted sarcastically. “You love flying, that's why you think there's nothing to worry about”

“But there isn't? Madam Hooch wouldn't let anything happen to you First Years” James looked confused. “Nothing happened to our class”

“Did you get hit with too many bludgers?” Remus asked in disbelief as he began to butter some toast, the knife was now pointed dangerously towards Sirius, who was half listening to the conversation. “Sirius almost flew into the Astronomy Tower and Peter tripped over the broomstick, that wasn't even off the floor”

“Those two are just special cases” James snorted at the memory, his eyes lighting up happily.

This still didn’t ease Zoe’s nerves about flying.

“And what about that Hufflepuff girl who almost lost an eye because she flew near the Whomping Willow?” Remus retorted once again. 

And now Zoe was feeling a hundred times worse about the lessons.

“Okay!” James exclaimed exasperatedly. “Flying can be dangerous, if you're a buffoon”

“That somewhat was good advice, James” Zoe rolled her eyes at the Second Year and gave Remus a glum look. “I'll see you two at dinner”

Zoe began to walk as fast as she could to escape the conversation, she didn’t even wait for Everard to finish his breakfast.

“Don't fly too close to the castle or the Whomping Willow!” James hollered out to her before she left for the Quidditch Pitch.

 

The last lesson of the day was here and Zoe was one mention of flying away from running to the hospital wing and feigning ill just to avoid the lesson altogether.  
But Everard had gripped onto her sleeve and refused to let her leave his side, constantly telling her that she will be fine and that Madame Hooch was just going through the basics with the class that day.

Somehow, Zoe had been one of the first to get her broomstick to levitate by her side and even Everard was surprised at how well she was doing, considering she was shaking like a leaf the entire time.

“Alright, now you’ve mastered the ‘up’ command, I think you are all ready for mounting and hovering” Madam Hooch beamed to the class and Zoe felt her lunch swirl through her gut viciously.

“Hover?” Zoe hissed to Everard, who looked panicked as well. “You said we wouldn’t be flying today!”

“How was I supposed to know?” Everard hissed back as he scowled at her attacking him.

Madam Hooch had convinced Zoe to get up on the broomstick, no matter what excuse Zoe spat out at her. The Quidditch Coach stood her ground and eventually Zoe crumbled, mounting the broomstick beside Everard and shook as Madam Hooch declared that the class could now push off the ground and hover before coming back down and dismounting.

Zoe gave a feeble attempt of a kick and hovered shakily beside Everard, who was as stable as Madam Hooch was when she had demonstrated.   
He was a natural, of course.

“I think I’m going to be sick” Zoe found herself hoarsely whispering as she glanced around and realised she was indeed off the ground and hovering midair. 

Zoe stared wide-eyed at Everard, who flew right beside her and put a hand on her shoulder, trying to balance her.   
“Maybe you should go back to the ground” Everard suggested as he saw how pale Zoe was growing. Agreeing with him, Zoe went to look down to descend back to the ground but clenched her eyes quickly. “Don't look down” 

“Where else am I supposed to look?” Zoe almost screamed back at Everard as she looked down at the ground.  
“At me – look over at me, Zoe. I’ll help you, okay”

Zoe didn’t last two more seconds. She looked back down and suddenly her lunch launched its way out of her system and was landing on the floor where she had been standing only moments earlier.  
"I think I need to go to the hospital wing" Zoe wheezed as Madam Hooch came to the rescue and saw that Zoe made it to the ground and then to the hospital wing safely.

 

Once Zoe was finally allowed to leave the hospital wing, she avoided anybody and everybody that had witnessed her horrendous and mortifying flying lesson.   
She actually contemplated asking Madam Pomfrey if she could stay in the hospital wing overnight just to avoid any further embarrassment, but from the firm words and unamused look to her eyes, Madam Pomfrey was not the type of woman to let that to be permitted, so Zoe had no other choice but to go back to her common room.

“How'd the flying lessons go?” James practically pounced on Zoe as soon as she entered the common room, he looked like he had just been waiting for her to return.   
She glowered at James and kept walking towards the staircase. She just wanted to sleep and forget the disaster that was her flying lesson. And she definitely didn’t need to have James Potter bragging about his own quidditch abilities to her right now.

“Zoe! What happened?” James called out, chasing after her.

“Nothing happened, James” Zoe whined just wishing he'd go away.

“You sound like something happened and you don't want to talk about it” James was right beside her now as they reached the stairs. Zoe glowered at him, trying to hold back the embarrassed tears that were wanting to slip passed her barriers.

“Because I don't want to talk about it”

“Did you fall off your broom?” There was a sly grin growing on his face.

“No” Zoe spoke bluntly.

“Crash into a tree?” James asked, frowning slightly as he watched for a reaction out of her.

“No”

“Bump into other people?”

That would have been better than what actually happened. 

“No” Zoe’s voice was trembling now as she tried to remain void of emotion.

“Then what?”

James waited patiently for a response, he looked eager to hear what she had to say but Zoe just felt stupid for what happened.  
Lowering her chin, Zoe hesitated and then began to mumble to their feet, “I threw up not even a foot from the ground, okay”

James didn’t laugh, not like he had done when speaking about Sirius and Peter’s disastrous flying lessons, instead he looked at her sympathetically and spoke softly.  
“You're scared of heights?”

Rubbing at her now damp eyes, Zoe shrugged while trying to hide her feeble appearance to James. “I guess so. I've never flown properly, and I was scared and –”

James cut her off and pulled her into a hug, a tight and comforting hug. “It's okay, you're not meant to fly, then you're not meant to fly. Don't stress over it”

Nodding, Zoe pulled out of the hug and pushed her way up the stairs, bumping into Remus and ignoring him as she slipped up the staircase leading up to the girls dorm rooms.  
“Was that Zoe crying? Is she okay?” Remus asked James as he saw her, both second years staring up at the stairs they were not allowed to walk up.   
“Flying lessons were a bit too much for her, but she’ll be fine” James promised as he clapped Remus on the back and then went on his own way, leaving Remus to frown in thought.


End file.
